For the sake of custom there were a few tabloid attempts to brand this as a
Battle of Britain, but they were desultory and unconvincing. How could they
be otherwise?

Back in the day, when the Champions League was a novel and revolutionary concept and the term was still invested with meaning – think of the fervour that attended the collision between Leeds and Rangers in 1992 – a competitive encounter of the title holders of Scotland and habitual champions England evoked a visceral thrill.

Neither Manchester United nor Rangers could sell all of their tickets for the latest chapter of cross-border rivalry. Of course, the recession is still very much a tangible factor for many fans – although Wigan packed their club shop with Rangers merchandise to tempt the Ibrox fans being corralled at the DW Stadium before they proceeded in convoy to Old Trafford.

In the event, the attendance was only a couple of thousand below capacity but when one considers the craving for tickets displayed by 150,000 Rangers fans on the occasion of the 2008 Uefa Cup final in the same city, the spotting of empty seats testified to the gulf – real and perceived – that has grown between the resources of the major clubs in the Scottish Premier League and their English equivalents.

As the chasm has expanded, so has the pronounced disdain for the Scottish game, as encapsulated by the flat-capped United season ticket holder sitting in front of the press box who inquired of this correspondent: “Surely this is a comedown for Henry Winter? He usually covers United against top teams.”

Well, you can only play what is in front of you, as the Rangers players might have observed when they realised that Sir Alex Ferguson had decreed 10 changes from the team that was held to a 3-3 draw at Everton. Scrutiny of his selection would reveal that his most junior cadets were to be found towards the back of the team, presumably on the assumption that Rangers were not likely to lay a glove on his defence.

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If so, his prognosis was not wrong. By half-time there was no grime on Tomasz Kuszczak’s gear, prompting further caustic comments from the philosophers in the paying seats. By then, though, the balance of criticism had altered. “This is the Champions League, not the Carling Cup,” one voluble spectator pronounced, belittling Ferguson’s selection.

Rangers, it was grudgingly acknowledged, had come with a game plan – exactly the same strategy which saw them through 18 European ties to appear in the City of Manchester Stadium for that Uefa Cup final two years previously – and they had stuck to it doggedly.

Craig Levein, who was excoriated when his Scotland team could scrape only a last-minute victory over Liechtenstein last week, watched impassively. He must have entertained lively thoughts about the fact that in this case it was the Scottish representatives who were in the business of frustration and that the most accomplished Scottish manager ever was now the target for the disaffection of his own support.

Meanwhile, Levein’s former employer, Gordon Smith, who quit as chief executive of the Scottish Football Association in the summer, was on hand as a radio pundit.

Asked about the disparity in resources between the two leagues represented in the contest, Smith replied tartly: “It’s one thing to have a different income, but we should not forget that the Premier League in England also has debt in great depth – on a scale unimaginable in Scotland. So if you’re going to be fair, you’re looking at a game being played against that background.”

In the second half Rangers were confined to a holding pen 18 yards from their goal. It was what Lionel Messi derided as 'anti-football’ when Barcelona ran up against Walter Smith’s tactics in the Champions League group stage three years ago. But, as he retorted, when a manager has one hand tied behind his back by financial constraints he is not overburdened with offensive options.

When the final whistle sounded after six minutes of added time, the travelling fans celebrated as though they had witnessed a victory. In a way, they had, and if it left the mass of the United support disenchanted, so much the better. Battle of Britain? No – but it was by no means Apathy in the UK, either. The second instalment at Ibrox on Nov 24 will confirm that.